PRO BASKETBALL

PRO BASKETBALL; Van Gundy Decides Knicks Must Get Bigger Right Now

By STEVE POPPER

Published: February 19, 2000

PURCHASE, N.Y., Feb. 18—
Earlier this season, after Jeff Van Gundy had paired Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell in the backcourt to start three consecutive games, Houston went to the coach and expressed a discomfort with starting the game at an unfamiliar position: point guard. Van Gundy listened to his All-Star shooting guard and returned to the conventional lineup.

But on Saturday afternoon, when the Knicks play host to the Indiana Pacers, Van Gundy will use the bigger lineup once again, and without asking for approval.

''I didn't ask him,'' Van Gundy said in reference to Houston after putting the team through a 2-hour-15-minute practice that was basically devoted to working out the kinks in the new lineup. ''This is an injury thing.''

It was partly an injury thing that led Van Gundy to experiment the first time, too -- Chris Childs missed one game with back spasms.

This time, Charlie Ward is out of the lineup, nursing a fractured pinkie. But rather than put Childs into the starting lineup, Van Gundy chose the big lineup again.

For Houston, that means sacrificing part of his comfort level to help the team.

''I just felt at that point, at the beginning of the game, I wanted to get into my rhythm early in the game,'' Houston said of the experiment in late December. Two months later, he seems to be willing to overlook that same concern, or at least keep his doubts to himself.

''At this point, I'm not so much concerned about the rhythm early,'' he said. ''I know I'm going to get my shots and that I'll be there late in the game.''

Van Gundy would not speculate on how much he would use this lineup until Ward returns, saying only: ''It's definitely for tomorrow. We're going to start that way. But I don't know how it's going to go from there. The only thing I've thought about is Indiana.''

The Knicks went 2-1 with the bigger lineup, defeating Charlotte and Toronto and losing to Indiana on Christmas night.

Van Gundy insisted then that the goal was creating a bigger front court -- without Sprewell -- more than it was a big backcourt, in an effort to bolster the team's rebounding.

But after a 101-90 loss in Indianapolis, with Ward missing from the lineup because of the flu, Van Gundy inserted Childs into the starting lineup for the next game. Van Gundy has had a true point guard in the starting lineup every night.

Part of the reason was that the bigger lineup did not produce the desired results, with Indiana outrebounding the Knicks, 41-40, in the Christmas game despite 15 rebounds by Marcus Camby. He will be watching this game in street clothes. And part of it was Houston's misgivings. In the Indiana loss, Houston had 3 turnovers, 1 assist and 10 points.

''It can work, I think, against anybody,'' Houston said today. ''You just have to practice and get used to it.''

Sprewell, who will move from forward to his natural shooting guard position, said: ''Whoever we have on the floor, we have to compete and play. That's the biggest thing with our team, to go out and play hard. We get more size and we have more rebounders in. And it gives us an opportunity to post the point guards and force them to double-team. I think we create a couple of mismatches that can possibly work to our advantage against a team like Indiana.''

Without Camby available, Kurt Thomas would most likely move into the starting lineup alongside Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson in the front court. The player pushed aside is Childs, who said he was offended the last time the team decided to go without a true point guard.

Today he held his tongue while Van Gundy explained the move as a way to match a bigger player against Mark Jackson, leaving Childs to handle the quicker Travis Best on the second unit.

Childs noted that the Knicks lost to the Pacers the last time they tried this, but added: ''Big backcourt, small backcourt, it doesn't matter. I'm the player. I don't have the choice. Whatever the coach wants, I try to go out and do my job.''

Photo: With Charlie Ward injured, Allan Houston, left, and Latrell Sprewell will compose the Knicks' backcourt for the game with Indiana. (Barton Silverman/The New York Times)